Chances are you’ve heard a Coldplay song at least once in your life. One of the most successful and once celebrated rock bands of all time have been gracing the airwaves for more than two decades, whether you’d want them to or not.

Starting out as an alt rock offshoot of bands like Radiohead, Muse and U2, Coldplay slowly but surely began their domination of popular rock music around the turn of the century with catchy hooks, universal lyrics and Chris Martin’s gifted voice.

But what changed? How did one of the most exciting rock bands turn into the laughing stock of manufactured pop hits? Well, that’s what I’m hoping to figure out today.

In honor of the release of their 10th album Moon Music, I’m going to try my best and rank all of Coldplay’s mainline studio albums and tell you what is truly worth your time as well as what you should just leave alone.

Coming from someone who grew up listening to and loving a lot of Coldplay’s music, I’m hoping to stay as positive as I can while also not sugarcoating my harsher thoughts. And for the sake of the list format and reader’s attention, the ranking will be from worst to best, in my opinion of course, so I can end on a happier note rather than a sour one.

10. Music of the Spheres (2021)

Back in 2021, I was fairly excited for this one to come out. After one of their more experimental and subtle releases in Everyday Life and promising preceding singles like the 10 minute epic “Coloratura,” I was wondering if they were going to continue on this experimental journey, even if it doesn’t result in the biggest sales.

Boy, was I wrong. Coldplay’s ninth album is also unfortunately their most dull, formulaic and soulless to date. I’ve also never fully hated a lot of their more pop leaning material, but this record is mostly inexcusable. While half the tracklist is sleep-inducing interludes named after emojis, most of the core tracks are just as bland, basic and nearly unlistenable. “Biutyful” (yes, pronounced “beautiful”) has some of the worst pitch-shifting I’ve ever heard in a pop song—think the Chipettes but even more grating and not at all charming—while “People of the Pride” just sounds straight out of a RAM Truck Month commercial.

It’s not all bad though. “Coloratura” as I mentioned before is a blissful, intricate outro and tracks like “Higher Power” and “Humankind” are inoffensive enough. But overall, this record feels more like a vehicle for a tour rather than a fully-realized and engaging body of work. 3.4/10

9. A Head Full of Dreams (2015)

Don’t get me wrong, I still adore a lot of the hits off this one. “Hymn for the Weekend,” “Adventure of a Lifetime” and “Up&Up” are all still pretty great pop songs. Outside the singles though, this record suffers from a lack of consistency and can feel pretty hollow in its messaging, something Coldplay have always been criticized for. Similar to Music of the Spheres, it can feel more artificial than natural in spots, though there is still a lot of heart to be found. 6.2/10

8. Moon Music (2024)

The band’s newest album checks a lot of the same boxes as the first two entries on this list, yet the soundscape, narrative and messaging is much more earnest and expansive.

I still wish they dove even deeper and explored the topics of self-love, peace and purpose more personally, but on the other hand I’m glad they’re even bringing these important topics up in the first place.

“We Pray,” while feeling a bit manufactured in tone, is still a very important and necessary message and gives smaller voices a bigger stage, so I can’t be too mad at it. Opener “Moon Music,” “All My Love” and “Jupiter” also all contribute to these similar themes well while also feeling very old-school Coldplay in their instrumentation. “Aeterna” is another highlight for me as it brings in an invigorating dancehall beat—similar to Darude’s “Sandstorm” if that makes sense, but in a good way.

Overall, Moon Music was a step up in every possible way for the band. While it can still lack the more personal and lively touch from some of their best work, there are some pretty beautiful tracks in here if you look hard enough. 6.6/10

7. Everyday Life (2019)

I still remember the rollout for this record like it was yesterday. The band’s first album in four years saw Coldplay scaling back, tightening up and promoting world peace.

While a double album, Everyday Life is still under an hour, though each side discusses a variety of important world issues to varying degrees of success. While Side 1 or “Sunrise” deals with everything from religion, systematic oppression and trauma, Side 2 tries to give a more optimistic take on the world while still enduring these issues.

My biggest problem with this record however is again, they’ve seemed to have stretched themselves too thin and in turn, some tracks can come off as unfinished or just half-baked ideas rather than full songs with a complete message.

Yet, there’s still a lot of gold to be found. “Church,” “Champion of the World” and closer “Everyday Life,” serve as great optimistic anthems that anyone can get into. “Guns” and “Trouble in Town” are important motifs on unnecessary violence and oppression with fantastic payoffs respectively. Then there’s the crown jewel of the album in “Arabesque,” a long, winding whirlwind of bluesy instrumentation containing the coveted message of equality and inclusion, as Martin’s main refrain in the song being, “we share the same blood.”

While not perfect, Everyday Life has a little something for everyone and I’ve always been able to find the beauty is its choppy tracklist. 7.0/10

6. Mylo Xyloto (2011)

Coldplay’s first foray into full-on pop territory is an interesting one to say the least. Coming off one of their biggest records to date with Viva la Vida, the band wanted to get even more colorful, cheerful, and expansive. And I’d say it mostly paid off.

The singles are once again the main highlights here. “Charlie Brown” remains one of my favorite Coldplay songs ever with its booming production, energy and sense of wonder. “Paradise” is the one everybody probably knows and it’s held up surprisingly well. “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” “Hurts Like Heaven” and even “Princess of China” with Rihanna all have something to love about them as well.

My biggest gripe with this record however is its pacing. Similar to Music of the Spheres, a lot of these tracks can be seen more like unnecessary interludes rather than concrete songs, almost giving the listener musical whiplash in the process. I do like a few of the more acoustic, emotional moments like “U.F.O.” and “Us Against the World,” but these tracks are still few and far between the rest of the rather incoherent deep-cuts.

Mylo is still a solid addition to the ever-evolving Coldplay canon, even if it could’ve used a few more edits. 7.5/10

5. X&Y (2005)

Coldplay’s third and longest album to date sees them hone in even more on that alt rock sound they became known for while also dabbling in electronics for the first time. Singles “Speed of Sound,” “Talk” and of course the iconic “Fix You” are all still pretty nostalgic for me while cuts like “Square One,” “Twisted Logic” and especially the title track “X&Y” remind me why I fell in love with these guys in the first place.

That said, the tracklist can tend to meander and drag across its hour runtime, though it’s still a classic in the band’s catalog for good reason. Even if I don’t come back to it as much as I once did, I guarantee you’ll find something to like about it. 7.9/10

4. Parachutes (2000)

Ah, where it all began. Parachutes has remained a cult classic since its release and it’s not hard to see why. Iconic tracks like “Yellow,” “Sparks” and “Don’t Panic” have stood the test of time while cuts like “Shiver,” “Spies” and “Trouble” still hold a very dear place in mine and so many fan’s hearts.

The band were definitely still finding their footing in places on this album but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t a lovely debut. 8.0/10

3. A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

The band’s second album is home to some of their biggest hits while also remaining one of their most confident and sonically gorgeous releases to date.

Everyone and their mom knows tracks like “Clocks” and “The Scientist,” while I have always been partial to bangers “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” “Warning Sign” and the immense closer “Amsterdam.” This album was proof that Coldplay were in it for the long haul and it’s still the first record I’d recommend to any newcomer wanting to get more acquainted with their music. 8.3/10

2. Ghost Stories (2014)

Maybe the most contentious placement on this list, but I’ll stand by it no matter what. To me, Ghost Stories remains Coldplay’s most understated, quaint and misunderstood record to this day.

Coming out after one of the most tumultuous periods in the band’s career and amidst Chris Martin’s recent separation from his wife Gwyneth Paltrow, the album puts these feelings of heartbreak, loss and recovery on full display resulting in stunning tracks and an incomparable atmosphere.

Tracks like “Magic,” “Always in My Head,” and “True Love” read as classic Coldplay on the surface but with solemn layers of electronics and Martin’s melancholic vocal performance, they turn into a rather refreshing take on grief and perseverance. The most stunning track on the record however has to be “Midnight.” The synth-heavy, electronic Jon Hopkins production works wonders with Martin’s vocoded voice to create this despondent, desolate track about needing someone in your darkest hour.

“A Sky Full of Stars” was the big hit off this record and a common point of critique as it’s so much different than the rest of the tracklist. Though, I’ve always thought that was kind of the point? Ghost Stories, through all its depressive, meandering tracks needed a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, and “A Sky Full of Stars” is exactly that. The last ray of light peeking through the rest of this dark album and coming right before the record’s gorgeous, optimistic piano-led epilogue “O.”

I will always commend Coldplay for doing what they wanted with this record. After the grandiose, large-scale pop of Mylo Xyloto they easily could’ve kept this colorful streak going, which they would right after with A Head Full of Dreams anyway, but no, they drew from the heart and made one of the best breakup records of the 2010s instead. 8.9/10

1. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)

The record that introduced and got me into these guys in the first place continues to be my favorite release from them all these years later as well. There is a magic captured on this record that I’ve only ever heard a couple times in my life.

I can confidently say that Viva is not only my favorite Coldplay album, but also one of my favorite albums from the 2000s period. Each track, idea and production choice is nothing short of masterful and necessary in the world of pop-rock music and truly defined the era of its time.

The group’s main production partner Brian Eno, who’s worked with the likes of U2, Talking Heads and even David Bowie, brought out the absolute best the band had to offer and they haven’t even been able to replicate it since. I have very few complaints as this record defined some of my earliest childhood memories and only continues to create more with time.

“Viva la Vida” as a title track is still perfect and remains one of the band’s biggest hits. Personal favorites also include “Lost!,” “Violet Hill,” the now famously Frank Ocean covered “Strawberry Swing” and the track that defies cohesive song structure but still works amazingly well regardless “42.” The record is also bookended flawlessly. Opener “Life in Technicolor” is already so captivating and colorful it didn’t even need lyrics while closer “Death and All His Friends” may be the band’s finest closer of any record of theirs with its ever-building instrumental and earnest, emotive messaging.

Viva is easily Coldplay’s magnum opus if they were to ever have one as well as one of the defining albums from my upbringing and ever-growing love of music as an artform. 9.2/10

So, where does that leave us with Coldplay? Well, it’s not hard to see these guys as just another rock band that got caught up in the pop sphere over the last decade or so that haven’t looked back since. While I still enjoy a great deal of the band’s material, even getting into the more pop-centric stuff as of late, it’s also pretty apparent why they’ve gotten so much hate and bad press over the years as well.

Though, what I would say to someone who’s only ever heard Coldplay’s name used in a negative context is to go back to the beginning, give their first few records a listen and see if you’re still on the Coldplay hate train, because chances are, you’ll find something to like about them.

Especially at this point in their career, I think our time would be better spent reminiscing and discussing why Coldplay were once so loved in popular music rather than send them unnecessary hate for making generic pop songs now. Because deep down, I believe that beloved rock band is still in there, spreading love and acceptance around the world. Sure, those messages may be generic and simple, but that’s also why they still work and are seeing continued success. Coldplay doesn’t have hate in their heart, all they have is music and I see nothing wrong with that.